Prices rising in the cities

New data from Bank of Scotland has demonstrated once again that price rises in Scotland’s cities are outperforming more rural parts of the country. Affordable Cities Review studied house prices and affordability across Scotland’s seven cities, and its findings made for interesting reading.

Average property prices rose by one per cent across Scotland last year, but prices in urban areas increased by three times this level. Edinburgh was once again ranked as Scotland’s least affordable city, but Glasgow was Scotland’s second most affordable destination – and also the ninth most affordable city anywhere in the UK. Indeed, Scotland performed highly in terms of house price to earnings ratios, recording a national average of 5.3 compared to the UK figure of 6.9 times.

While rising prices are good for sellers, there was also positive news for house hunters in the central belt. Stirling has become the most affordable city for home buyers anywhere in the United Kingdom, with an average property price of £173,848. This is only 3.7 times the average gross annual earnings, comparing favourably to Edinburgh’s ratio of 6.0 and Perth’s 5.7. Nonetheless, house prices in Stirling have risen by 17 per over in the last five years, outperforming a number of other Scottish cities. Glasgow’s impressive growth of 23 per cent over the same period saw average house prices reach £165,370 at the start of 2017.